The spacecraft that could one day take man to Mars took one small step toward that dream Friday.
After blasting off from Kennedy Space Center, NASA'S Orion shuttle traveled 3,600 miles above Earth — the farthest a human-built craft has gone in four decades.
It splashed into the Pacific Ocean at 11:30 p.m., just 4 ½ hours after it launched from Florida.
"There's your new spacecraft, America," Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said as the Orion capsule neared the water.
The U.S. Navy will help NASA recover the craft and bring it back to land.
The unmanned craft orbited the Earth twice and traveled 60,000 miles during the test mission.
The short flight is the first test of the craft that could be used to send man to Mars in the future.
NASA tried to launch the unmanned shuttle Thursday, but powerful winds and a technical issue forced crews to scrub the mission and reschedule.
The shuttle did not carry any humans, but scientists hope that it could be used to send astronauts to asteroids and even Mars one day.
However, it will be at least another seven years before people could climb into the shuttle.
The test launch cost about $375 million.
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